Wastewater treatment with modular membrane bioreactor cartridges

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the invention describe an apparatus, method, and system of wastewater treatment using modular membrane bioreactor (MBR) cartridges. In one embodiment, said method of wastewater treatment includes adjusting the number of activated modular MBR cartridges in a container and adjusting the wastewater processing rate of the container to dynamically change the throughput of a fixed-size wastewater processing container. According to one embodiment, said method can include utilizing modular MBR cartridges to provide for a fault-tolerant wastewater treatment container.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/074,561, filed Mar. 18, 2016, entitled “Wastewater Treatment WithModular Membrane Bioreactor Cartridge,” which application is aContinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/216,334, filed Mar.17, 2014, entitled “Wastewater Treatment With Modular MembraneBioreactor Cartridge”, which claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/792,873, filed on Mar. 15, 2012, entitled “WastewaterTreatment With Modular Membrane Bioreactor Cartridges,” each of which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to the field of wastewater treatment,and in particular but not exclusively, relates to wastewater treatmentvia membrane bioreactor (MBR) filtration.

BACKGROUND

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) utilized to process and purify waterfrom industrial operations and municipal sources. Incoming wastewatercan vary in volume and density. For example, seasonal storms may causean increase in volume and decrease in density of incoming wastewater.

Some WWTPs include treatment with membrane bioreactor (MBR) filters. Incurrent implementations, in order to increase a WWTP's capacity tofilter wastewater with MBR filters, additional or larger volumecontainers are required. As a result, a WWTP has to be designed to notonly accommodate current demand, but any foreseeable increased demand.This increases the cost required to design, construct, and maintain theWWTP.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments of the invention aredescribed with reference to the following figures, wherein likereference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various viewsunless otherwise specified. It should be appreciated that the followingfigures may not be drawn to scale.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a modular wastewater treatment container withmodular membrane bioreactor (MBR) cartridges according to an embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a modular MBR cartridge according to anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method of treating variable flow rates ofwastewater with modular MBR cartridges according to one embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a method of providing fault tolerantwastewater filtration with modular MBR cartridges according to oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a system to utilize and/or implement anembodiment of the invention.

Descriptions of certain details and implementations follow, including adescription of the figures, which may depict some or all of theembodiments described below, as well discussing other potentialembodiments or implementations of the inventive concepts presentedherein. An overview of embodiments of the invention is provided below,followed by a more detailed description with reference to the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of an apparatus, system, and method for wastewater treatmentwith modular membrane bioreactor (MBR) cartridges are described herein.In one embodiment, modular MBR cartridges can be dynamically activatedor deactivated to enable variable throughput for a fixed-size wastewaterprocessing container. According to one embodiment, modular MBRcartridges enable fault tolerant wastewater processing containers.

In the following description numerous specific details are set forth toprovide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. One skilled in therelevant art will recognize, however, that the techniques describedherein can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, orwith other methods, components, materials, etc. In other instances,well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown ordescribed in detail to avoid obscuring certain aspects.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment is includedin at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, theappearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” invarious places throughout this specification are o necessarily allreferring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features,structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner inone or more embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a modular wastewater treatment container withmodular membrane bioreactor (MBR) cartridges according to an embodimentof the invention.

Container 102 can be installed as part of a larger WWTP. A WWTP mayinclude a plurality of wastewater treatment subsystems, each executing aspecific wastewater treatment function. For example, a WWTP can includea subsystem that performs MBR filtration. A WWTP can include a pluralityof modular containers which each implement one or more of the wastewatertreatment subsystems, stages, or methods. For example, illustratedcontainer 102 is a modular container for implementing MBR filtration ina WWTP. In one embodiment, container 102 is one of a plurality ofmodular MBR containers in a WWTP. According to one embodiment, container102 can also implement other wastewater treatment subsystems, stages, ormethods, in addition to MBR filtration.

Container 102 includes a plurality of modular MBR cartridges 104 a-d.According to this embodiment, modular MBR cartridges 104 a-d are forfiltering influent of container 102 by improving activated sludgewastewater treatment processes, combining bio-reactive treatmentprocesses with membrane separation processes, MBR cartridges 104 a-d maybe, for example, removable cartridges comprising MBR filters. Said MBRcartridges provide flexibility in design and/or use. Although four MBRcartridges 104 a-d are shown in FIG. 1, any number of modular MBRcartridges may be used. In one embodiment, modular MBR cartridges 104a-d separate and concentrate biomass by removing wastewater (as opposedto using settling processes). According to this embodiment, container102 may retain particulate matter, remove a high percentage ofpathogens, and remove dissolved materials from the wastewater influent.

In this embodiment, container 102 includes headworks 112 for receivingwastewater from an influent source. In FIG. 1, four headworks are shown,but other numbers of headworks may be used. A greater number ofheadworks may be used to facilitate a higher rate of receiving influentinto container 102. Centrifugal permeate pumps may be used to strainpermeate from the wastewater, and transfer the permeate downstream to aultra-violet disinfection system (not shown) to discharge. Although amodular MBR container is illustrated in FIG. 1, embodiments of theinvention as described herein can be implemented for any type of WWTP orany type of container within a WWTP.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a modular MBR cartridge. Modular MBRcartridge 200 includes MBR filters 202 a-202 n. Although modular MBRcartridge 200 is illustrated with a plurality of MBR filters, any othernumber of MBR filters (including a single filter) may be included inmodular MBR cartridge 200. In embodiments with a plurality of MBRfilters such as cartridge 200, the plurality of MBR filters can becoupled in any manner. For example, MBR filters 202 a-202 n may becoupled via a frame or housing.

MBR filters 202 a-n may include membranes of any material (e.g.,synthetic or natural) or porosity (e.g., 0.08 μm) determined based onsystem requirements (e.g., quality requirements of the effluent). Forexample, MBR filters 202 a-n may utilize reverse osmosis,nanofiltration, ultrafiltration, microfiltration, or any othersolid/liquid separation membranes known in the art. In one embodiment,membranes are used which can withstand additional suction pressure(e.g., 2 times standard suction pressure) for periods of time.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method of treating variable flow rates ofwastewater with modular MBR cartridges according to one embodiment ofthe invention.

Flow diagrams as illustrated herein provide examples of sequences ofvarious process actions. Although shown in a particular sequence ororder, unless otherwise specified, the order of the actions can bemodified. Thus, the illustrated implementations should be understoodonly as examples, and the illustrated processes can be performed in adifferent order, and some actions may be performed in parallel.Additionally, one or more actions can be omitted in various embodimentsof the invention; thus, not all actions are required in everyimplementation. Other process flows are possible.

Method 300 detects changes in the volumetric and mass flow rate ofwastewater and adjusts the number of activated MBR cartridges in acontainer and the flow rate that the container is set to process waterin response to those changes. In one embodiment, method 300 monitors thevolumetric and mass flow rates of wastewater input for a WWTP.Monitoring the volumetric and mass flow rates of wastewater input can beachieved with sensors, and in one embodiment, with a computer systemsuch as system 500 of FIG. 5. Method 300 detects whether the volumetricflow rate has increased, and whether the mass flow rate has stayed thesame or decreased, 302. For example, a system can detect a “high tide”condition in which the wastewater coming into the WWTP is diluted with ahigh volume of water, and therefore has a lower density. A high tidecondition can result from, for example, seasonal rain.

In response to detecting that the volumetric flow rate has increased andthe mass flow rate has stayed the same or decreased, an additionalmodular MBR cartridge in an MBR container is activated, and the MBRcontainer's wastewater processing rate is increased, 304. The MBRcontainer can be a container with a modular membrane bioreactor (MBR)cartridge, such as container 102 of FIG. 1. In one embodiment, theadditional modular MBR cartridge is activated and the rate that the MBRcontainer is set to receive, process, and discharge wastewater isincreased in response to detecting the volumetric flow rate exceeds afirst threshold value and detecting the mass flow rate is lower than orequal to a second threshold value. For example, in one embodiment, therate that the MBR container is set to receive, process, and dischargewastewater is increased by at least a factor of 2. In anotherembodiment, the rate that the MBR container is set to receive, process,and discharge wastewater is increased by at least a factor of 4. Inother embodiments, the rate can increased by any number supported by theMBR cartridges and the treated wastewater tolerance levels. Increasingthe rate that the MBR container is set to receive, process, anddischarge wastewater decreases the water cycle time in the container.For example, if a baseline water cycle time is four hours, the watercycle time after increasing the container's wastewater processing ratemay be 1 or 2 hours. Although the MBR container has a fixed volume,activating an additional modular MBR cartridge and increasing the ratethat the MBR container is set to process waste eases the throughput ofthe container. In one embodiment, increasing the rate that the MBRcontainer is set to receive, process, and discharge wastewater canresult in cleaner processed water.

Method 300 detects whether the volumetric flow rate has decreased, andwhether the mass flow rate has increased, 306. In response to detectingthat the volumetric flow rate has decreased and the mass flow rate hasincreased, an additional modular MBR cartridge in the MBR container isdeactivated, and the MBR container's wastewater processing rate isdecreased, 308. For example, in response to detecting the volumetricflow rate is lower than or equal to the first threshold value and themass flow rate exceeds the second threshold value, the additionalmodular MBR cartridge in the container is deactivated, and the rate ofreceiving wastewater into the container, processing the receivedwastewater within the volume of the container, and discharging theprocessed wastewater from the container is decreased. According to oneembodiment, decreasing the MBR container processing rate increasesoxygen to meet Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD).

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a method of providing fault tolerantwastewater treatment via modular MBR cartridges according to oneembodiment of the invention.

Method 400 detects that a modular MBR cartridge (e.g., modular MBRcartridge 104 a in container 102 of FIG. 1) is nonoperational, 402. Forexample, a modular MBR cartridge could become nonoperational as a resultof membrane fouling of an MBR filter. Another example leading to anonoperational modular MBR cartridge is a damaged or worn MBR filter.

In response to determining a modular MBR cartridge is nonoperational, anadditional modular MBR cartridge (e.g., modular MBR cartridge 104 b ofFIG. 1) is activated, 304. Although method 400 describes activating asingle additional modular MBR cartridge, any number of modular MBRcartridges can be activated. In one embodiment, by activating anadditional MBR cartridge, wastewater treatment with MBR filtration cancontinue uninterrupted despite a nonoperational MBR cartridge.

Similarly, an MBR cartridge can be activated due to other conditions.For example, if another MBR container is nonoperational (e.g., due toneeding repairs or due to being replaced), one or more additional MBRcartridges in one or more MBR containers can be activated. In one suchembodiment, a container can be repaired or replaced without compromisingwaste water throughput. In another example, if another WWTP's ability tosufficiently handle incoming wastewater is lacking (e.g., due tofailures or reaching capacity), one or more additional MBR cartridges inone or more MBR containers can be activated in the WWTP. In yet anotherexample, the WWTP can be upgraded to increase capacity by activating oneor more additional MBR cartridges in one or more MBR containers. In onesuch embodiment, activating additional cartridges provides additionalcapacity without service interruption.

Method 400 detects if a previously nonoperational modular MBR cartridge(e.g., modular MBR cartridge 104 a of FIG. 1) becomes operational, 406.In response to detecting that the previously nonoperational modular MBRcartridge is operational, one of the modular MBR cartridges in thecontainer is deactivated. For example, if a previously nonoperationalcartridge becomes operational and activated, one of the modular MBRcartridges is no longer needed to achieve the same level of wastewaterprocessing, and can be deactivated. The modular MBR cartridge to bedeactivated could b any activated cartridge. In another embodiment, asystem can detect that a previously nonoperational cartridge isoperational, but no activate that cartridge. In one such embodiment,that previously nonoperational cartridge can serve as a backup cartridgeproviding a fault tolerant MBR container.

One or more MBR cartridges can also be deactivated in response todetecting other conditions (e.g., activation or increase of capacity ofanother MBR container or WWTP). Although method 400 describesdeactivating a single MBR cartridge, any number of MBR cartridges can bedeactivated.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of system to utilize and/or implement anembodiment of the invention. As illustrated, system 500 includes buscommunication means 518 for communicating information, and processor 510coupled to bus 518 for processing information. The system furthercomprises storage memory 512 (alternatively referred to herein as mainmemory), coupled to bus 518 for storing information and instructions tobe executed by processor 510. Main memory 512 also may be used forstoring temporary variables or other intermediate information duringexecution of instructions by processor 510. The system also comprisesstatic storage device 516 coupled to bus 518 for storing staticinformation and instructions for processor 510, and data storage device514 such as a magnetic disk or optical disk and its corresponding diskdrive. Data storage device 514 is coupled to bus 518 for storinginformation and instructions.

The system may further be coupled to display device 520, such as acathode ray tube (CRT) or a liquid crystal display (LCD) coupled to bus518 through bus 526 for displaying information to a computer user. I/Odevice 522 may also be coupled to bus 518 through bus 526 forcommunicating information and command selections (e.g., alphanumericdata and/or cursor control information) to processor 510.

Another device, which may optionally be coupled to computer system 500,is a communication device 524 for accessing other nodes of a distributedsystem via a network in order to transmit platform independent alertmessages as described above. Communication device 524 may include any ofa number of commercially available networking peripheral devices such asthose used for coupling to an Ethernet, token ring, Internet, or widearea network. Communication device 524 may further be a null-modemconnection, or any other mechanism that provides connectivity betweencomputer system 500 and other devices. Note that any or all of thecomponents of this system illustrated in FIG. 5 and associated hardwaremay be used in various embodiments of the invention.

It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that anyconfiguration of the system may be used for various purposes accordingto the particular implementation. The control logic or softwareimplementing embodiments of the invention can be stored in main memory512, data storage device 514, or other storage medium locally orremotely accessible to processor 510.

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that thesystem, method, and process described herein can be implemented assoftware stored in main memory 512 or static storage device 516 (e.g.,read only memory) and executed by processor 510. This control logic orsoftware may also be resident on an article of manufacture comprising acomputer readable medium having computer readable program code embodiedtherein and being readable the mass storage device 514 and for causingprocessor 510 to operate in accordance with the methods and teachingsherein.

Each component described in connection with FIG. 5 includes software orhardware, or a combination of these. Each and all components may beimplemented as software modules, hardware modules, special-purposehardware(e.g., application specific hardware, ASICs, DSPs, etc.),embedded controllers, hardwired circuitry, hardware logic, etc. Softwarecontent (e.g., data, instructions, configuration) may be provided via anarticle of manufacture including a non-transitory, tangible computer ormachine readable storage medium, which provides content that representsinstructions that can be executed. The content may result in a computerperforming various functions/operations described herein.

A computer readable non-transitory storage medium includes any mechanismthat provides (i.e., stores and/or transmits) information in a formaccessible by a computer (e.g., computing device, electronic system,etc.), such as recordable/non-recordable media (e.g., read only memory(ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, opticalstorage media, flash memory devices, etc.). The content may be directlyexecutable (“object” or “executable” form), source code, or differencecode (“delta” or “patch” code). A computer readable non-transitorystorage medium may also include a storage or database from which contentcan be downloaded. Said computer readable medium may also include adevice or product having content stored thereon at a time of sale ordelivery. Thus, delivering a device with stored content, or offeringcontent for download over a communication medium may be understood asproviding an article of manufacture with such content described herein.

The above description of illustrated embodiments of the invention,including what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed.While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the invention aredescribed herein for illustrative purposes, various modifications arepossible within the scope of the invention, as those skilled in therelevant art will recognize. These modifications can be made to theinvention in light of the above detailed description. The terms used inthe following claims should not be construed to limit the invention tothe specific embodiments disclosed in the specification. Rather, thescope of the invention is to be determined entirely by the followingclaims, which are to be construed in accordance with establisheddoctrines of claim interpretation.

1. (canceled)
 2. A system comprising: a computer system communicativelycoupled to one or more sensors and a plurality of membrane bioreactor(MBR) cartridges, the plurality of MBR cartridges including a set ofactivated MBR cartridges and a set of deactivated MBR cartridges, thecomputer system configured to, at least: detect that an MBR cartridge ofthe set of activated MBR cartridges has become nonoperational; andactivate one or more MBR cartridges of the set of deactivated MBRcartridges such that filtration of wastewater can continue withoutinterruption despite the detection that the MBR cartridge of the set ofactivated MBR cartridges has become nonoperational.
 3. The system ofclaim 2, the computer system further configured to, at least: detectthat the MBR cartridge of the set of activated MBR cartridges has becomeoperational; and deactivate an additional MBR cartridge of the set ofactivated MBR cartridges based on a determination that the additionalMBR cartridge is no longer needed to achieve a predetermined level offiltration of the wastewater.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein thedetecting that the MBR cartridge has become nonoperational is based onreceiving a communication from the one or more sensors indicating thatone or more filters of the MBR cartridge of the set of activated MBRcartridges has become damaged or worn.
 5. The system of claim 2, whereinthe detecting that the MBR cartridge has become nonoperational is basedon receiving a communication from the one or more sensors indicatingthat one or more membranes have become fouled.
 7. The system of claim 2,wherein each of the plurality of MBR cartridges is a modular cartridgethat combines a bio-reactive treatment process with a membraneseparation process for the filtration of the wastewater.
 8. The systemof claim 2, wherein the plurality of MBR cartridges are installed into afixed-size container for processing the wastewater.
 9. A methodcomprising: at a computer system communicatively coupled to one or moresensors and a plurality of membrane bioreactor (MBR) cartridges, theplurality of MBR cartridges including a set of activated MBR cartridgesand a set of deactivated MBR cartridges: detecting that an MBR cartridgeof the set of activated MBR cartridges has become nonoperational; andactivating one or more MBR cartridges of the set of deactivated MBRcartridges such that filtration of wastewater can continue withoutinterruption despite the detection that the MBR cartridge of the set ofactivated MBR cartridges has become nonoperational.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, further comprising, at the computer system: detecting that theMBR cartridge of the set of activated MBR cartridges has becomeoperational; and deactivating an additional MBR cartridge of the set ofactivated MBR cartridges based on a determination that the additionalMBR cartridge is no longer needed to achieve a predetermined level offiltration of the wastewater.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein thedetecting that the MBR cartridge has become nonoperational is based onreceiving a communication from the one or more sensors indicating thatone or more filters of the MBR cartridge of the set of activated MBRcartridges has become damaged or worn.
 12. The method of claim 9,wherein the detecting that the MBR cartridge has become nonoperationalis based on receiving a communication from the one or more sensorsindicating that one or more membranes have become fouled.
 13. The methodof claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of MBR cartridges is a modularcartridge that combines a bio-reactive treatment process with a membraneseparation process for the filtration of the wastewater.
 14. The methodof claim 9, wherein the MBR cartridges are installed into a fixed-sizecontainer for processing the wastewater.
 15. The method of claim 14,wherein the fixed-size container is a modular container of a set ofmodular containers comprising a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP).
 16. Anon-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing a set ofinstructions that, when executed by at least one processor, causes theat least one processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:detecting that an MBR cartridge of a set of activated MBR cartridges ofa plurality of MBR cartridges has become nonoperational; and activatingone or more MBR cartridges of a set of deactivated MBR cartridges of theplurality of MBR cartridges such that filtration of wastewater cancontinue without interruption despite the detection that the MBRcartridge of the set of activated MBR cartridges has becomenonoperational.
 17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage mediumof claim 16, the operations further comprising: detecting that the MBRcartridge of the set of activated MBR cartridges has become operational;and deactivating an additional MBR cartridge of the set of activated MBRcartridges based on a determination that the additional MBR cartridge isno longer needed to achieve a predetermined level of filtration of thewastewater.
 18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium ofclaim 16, wherein the detecting that the MBR cartridge has becomenonoperational is based on receiving a communication from one or moresensors indicating that one or more filters of the MBR cartridge of theset of activated MBR cartridges has become damaged or worn.
 19. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein thedetecting that the MBR cartridge has become nonoperational is based onreceiving a communication from one or more sensors indicating that oneor more membranes have become fouled.
 20. The non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein each of theplurality of MBR cartridges is a modular cartridge that combines abio-reactive treatment process with a membrane separation process forthe filtration of the wastewater.
 21. The non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the MBR cartridgesare installed into a fixed-size container for processing the wastewater.